Legend of Danny
by No.311
Summary: Before, things were simple. During the day, Danny went to school. During the afternoon, Danny went home. Afterwards, he would go and hang out, with his friends. But then Danny found out he could earthbend, and things slowly became more complicated. (Set in LoK universe, post-series. M to be safe.)
1. Prologue

**I do not own anything you recognise. (Updated 4-11-2016)**

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"You have all heard the stories of Avatar Aang, and Korra, and Wan, and others. You have all heard how they toppled evil and gave back the good to people. You have all heard how they honed their skills and learned the main four elements, how some of them had difficulty with one particular element, and some of them excelled in one other. You have all heard how they found friends, comrades and love on their quest. This you have heard, from me, in the past."

 _In the middle of the Earth Kingdom lies a town. It is not as big as Republic City, nor is it as small as most towns found in the Earth Kingdom. It is, however, a nice place to live._

"Now for the essay you have to write:" Mr. Lancer said, addressing the class, "name three instances of blatant bender bias and describe in detail how those instances helped strengthen the view that benders were superior." The class groaned, and some of them let their heads fall against the table. Mr. Lancer grimaced. Didn't they know how important their education was? The days when bending was all you needed to know to be successful in life were gone. Now you needed knowledge.

 _A nice place to live, if you support the equalist faction. Welcome to Amity, where equalists have found themselves a place cut off from benders and free of the people who worship them._

The bell rung, and the teenagers scrambled for their backpacks in an effort to get out of the room as fast as possible. One kid, however, was stopped by Mr. Lancer.

"Mr. Fenton. Can I see you after class?"

The boy nodded, and motioned for his friends to go onward without him.

 _The year is 220 AG, ten and some years after the last Avatar. One day, she disappeared, and was never seen again. Some people say she failed in restarting the Avatar cycle, while others think she is still alive._

"Sit down, Mr. Fenton." Mr. Lancer motioned to the chair in front of his bureau. "I'll write you a note for your next class."

The boy nodded, and sat down. "What is this about, Mr. Lancer? Is this about my grades?"

Lancer waved him off with a small smile on his face. "No, no. Your grades are fine. More than fine, for the most part." His smile turned into a more neutral expression. "You have been slipping a bit, though, lately? Is there something wrong?"

The boy shuffled a bit in his chair.

 _It was only two days ago that one Danny Fenton saw the harbinger of his future. He had seen her before, but most of the time, if not all the time, she just stood there._

"No. Nothing's wrong, Mr. Lancer." Danny said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Mr. Lancer's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing, and silence was abundant for a few seconds. Then, he spoke:

"Mr. Fenton. I, as your student counselor, called you here because of this form. Do you recognize it?"

 _This time, she motioned him to come with her. Nobody took note of her, which was odd, because she wore blue clothes in the midst of a crowd of prominently green clothed people. He, of course, followed. If she wanted to harm him, she could have done that ages ago, and he was bored._

"Yeah." Danny said, his eyes opened a little less than mere moments ago. He knew where this was going, and he didn't like it.

Mr. Lancer put the form down again. "Then you know why you're here, do you not, Mr. Fenton?"

"Yeah…" Danny said, once again, eyes downcast and avoiding the gaze of Mr. Lancer.

"Danny. We've had this talk before. You are a bright young man, and you can come far. You know that is all we, ergo, me, the school and your parents want for you, right?"

"Yes, mr. Lancer…" Danny tried to listen, he really did. He just…

 _She led him to an abandoned crater, a few miles from the city. She probably wanted to talk, but couldn't, and Danny was left to make sense of her strange sign-language._

"Hey Danny-o!" his father exclaimed, as he shut the door behind him. "Have you seen my new invention?" He unveiled a mechanical contraption from behind his back. " _This_ is the Fenton Waterthrower!"

"Uh-huh." Danny stared at it a little bit blank-faced, what in the name of Kuei was the use of a _waterthrower_? "It's just like a waterhose."

"No, no, Danny. This is way better! With this, we can finally trump those benders! This machine, you see, creates the water it uses! With a molecule-splicer, we have succeeded in a device that makes water from thin air! It's also great for the lawn in summer!" And Jack Fenton boomed a laugh, while he eagerly made way for the door, to 'test' (play with) his new machine.

Danny saw him go, and sighed.

 _It didn't make sense at all, but when he tried to tell her that, she stopped him._

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Maddie Fenton, his mother asked him as she made his way to the couch. She patted the place beside her, and Danny sat down.

"Nothing, I guess. It's just, mr. Lancer wanted to talk to me today…" Of course, this was only half the truth, but Danny knew better than to tell his parents the whole truth.

"Ah, so he did it already." His mother muttered, failing to notice that Danny could hear her just fine. "Danny," She said, louder this time, "why don't you just apprentice here, if you don't want to do it anywhere else? It's a vital part of your education, you'll have to do it anyway."

Danny breathed out. "Mom, I… I don't want to do that either. I don't see the use of all those inventions, while bending could do it anyway. Why is it such a problem that there are benders?"

Maddie frowned. "Danny, we've had this discussion already. You haven't seen the things that were caused by bending. You don't know what could have been prevented if there was no bending. I'm not going to do this right now. Just think over the apprenticeship, _please_?

"…Fine." Danny let out. "I'm going to the park."

He tried to ignore his father who was happily spraying the whole garden with water. Unfortunately, he failed.

 _She started moving. It was like a rigid dance, beautiful, but raw and tense._

As Danny neared the crater, he checked one last time, before jumping in.

 _At first, there was nothing._

Danny stood in a battle stance and practiced the movements.

 _Then, she slammed her foot down,_

And a big boulder shot up from the ground.

Behind him, the girl smiled at his efforts.


	2. Earth: The Hooligans

**Hello and welcome to the real start of Legend of Danny. I updated the prologue, for it had some inconsistencies with my plans. The summary has also been updated. As I write this story, earlier chapters may tend to get updated, so keep checking them if it has been a while ago. I will also mention it when I do so, and what. For now, I have only changed the year and how long Korra has been dead a bit. (Disclaimer is in prologue and will not be repeated.) Enjoy!**

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 **Book 1: Earth**

 **Chapter 1: The Hooligans**

 _In those days, things were simple. During the day, Danny went to school. During the afternoon, Danny went home. Afterwards, he would go and train his bending. But things changed, slowly but surely._

A motorbike sped through the wilderness, two figures distinctly visible before the cloud of dust that followed behind the vehicle. Laughing could be heard.

 _It was not the first time benders had found this spot of tranquility, and neither would it be the last. Some had meant to cause harm, some had come in peace._

"Hey Kitty!" A juvenile voice shouted over the distinct growl of the motorcycle. "It seems like we've found ourselves a village! Let's go for a detour!"

The woman on the back of the motorcycle wrapped her arms over the young man's shoulders, laughing, and he couldn't keep the grin off his face.

 _But their intentions never mattered. Amity had received them all with the same barbaric treatment, no matter their age, intentions, or even birthplace._

"Let's stir up some trouble then!" the man shouted gleefully, as the motorcycle passed Amity's border-sign. A nice place to live.

 _But the case that made Amity feared and despised among benders had occurred long ago, and now, for the first time in almost thirty years, a couple of benders had come to Amity._

"I'm sorry, again, please?" Danny asked the blue-clad girl, as he was just mind-boggled by a series of complex movements she had shown him.

 _Of course, bending had come before the benders. Much of his days was now committed to mastering the bending within him, at the behest of the spirit he so often saw._

She huffed in an obvious manner, which was the spirit's only manner, seeing as she was mute.

 _He didn't see no harm in it, really. After all, bending couldn't be so bad, could it?_

The woman in blue repeated the movements, and Danny tried to repeat them. He got the first part awkwardly right, and three small stones shot up simultaneously.

The spirit (for what else could she be) clapped her hands in obvious joy. Danny reckoned she seemed much like a kid in an adult body, motioning the way she did. He was lucky she did motion as much, he would never be able to communicate with her otherwise.

The spirit looked at Danny expectantly.

He rubbed his neck, with a reluctant smile. The boulders fell down in the ground again, gravity claiming them once more.

She looked at him disapprovingly, and sighed. She repeated the movements again, and Danny followed. This time, he succeeded, with some difficulty.

 _He was not wrong._

Unnoticed by either of the two, two feet carefully retreated from the edge of the crater, softly making their way back to the town, but becoming quicker the farther they got.

 _Not in the slightest._

The following morning, Danny exited the house to go to school. Luckily, it was Friday, which coincidentally meant only half a day of school, so he didn't have to deal with school much longer before the weekend started. This brought a small spring to his steps.

"Hey Danny!" Danny searched for the source of the voice, and saw Sam waving at him. "Over here!"

Rubbing remains of sleep out of his eyes, he slowly made his way to his two best friends. On the left: Tucker Foley, Amity's resident tech geek, riding on the newest model Fenton hover-scooter, made by an effort of his parents to render air-scooters obsolete. On the right: Sam Manson, Amity's number one individualist, and hater of pink.

"Hey, Sam, Tuck." Danny greeted back.

"Finished your essay, Danny?" Sam remarked. Danny's eyes shot open wide, for no, he hadn't finished his essay. Instead, he had been going through the movements again. It was strangely addicting.

"Crud, no!" Danny cursed, and groaned. "Lancer is on my case already, now I'm certainly doomed."

Sam laughed shortly at Danny's expense. "Don't worry so much about it, Danny. After all, my essay will surely grab his attention more than the absence of yours will."

Danny sighed. "Sam, you didn't, did you?"

"It's just, I do not agree with this towns outlook of 'Bending is Vaatu, equalist is Raava' and such bull-pig crap. It's all in the mind. Humans, that's what makes the difference." Sam heatedly defended.

Danny rubbed his neck. "Sam, it's not like I don't see your point, but…" he waved with his hands, "you know?"

"No, I don't know. I refuse to follow like some sheep. These policies are barbaric! And…" Suddenly, she stopped. Danny looked at her questioningly, but she was looking at Tucker.

"Tucker? Is something wrong? Normally you'd be battling me all-out by now." Sam prodded at the techno geek, who was staring at the ground hard. Then, as if he snapped out of a trance, he turned towards Sam.

"No, no. Nothing." Then he glanced at Danny, before taking his DZL (Digital Zhu-Li, by Varrick Industries) and distancing himself from the conversation again.

"There's definitely something wrong." Sam told Danny. He looked towards his left, where the blue-clad girl was now looking over Tuckers shoulder, probably to see what he was doing.

"I think you're right." Danny answered Sam. Sometimes, he felt guilty for not telling them, but he didn't want anyone to know that he was an earthbender, in fear of what would happen to him. Not that he was a very good earthbender anyways…

 _Danny's progress as an earthbender was slow, which sometimes worried the blue-clad girl. However hard he tried, his capabilities did not improve, and the blue-clad girl didn't know what to do about it. What if it would never get better? But she digressed, maybe in another month, he would find a way to make it work._

It was at school that Danny found himself in bad luck. Mr. Lancer, as it turned out, had neglected chewing out Sam for her anti-bender tendencies in favor of making Danny write the whole essay in detention. Never let it be said that high expectations was a good thing.

Of course, Danny was not quite happy about finding blatant bender bias, seeing as he was one himself. But if he ever wanted to get out of detention, he would have to do it, so he sighed once more and took his book to look for the first example.

"The… Republic City Police Department used metal bending for law enforcement… since its founding until 210BG. They were… heavily biased against non-benders and often prisoned non-benders for the hell… no, scrap that, for the sake of it."

Danny's face soured. Sam was right in one thing: if the police department did that it would be because they were rotten human beings and not because of bending. Why did he have to do this? This time could be used for better things, like improving his form! He stopped writing for a while, listening to the bustling town outside, before diving in the textbook again for another example with an agonizing look on his face.

The bustling of the town outside became louder, but Danny didn't notice, with only sweet freedom on his mind.

"This strengthened the view that benders were—"

"Tragedy of Zhao! What in the name of the president is going on outside?!" Mr. Lancer snapped his book shut and stood up from his chair to move to the window, to see what the commotion was all about. Danny, eager for a distraction to free him of his task, moved along with him.

Outside, the commotion had devolved into screams, and laughing. A man on a motorcycle was using earthbending to destroy the road, making ramps and other platforms to perform tricks with, while everyone else fled out of the way, searching for something to deal with this bending menace in utter panic.

"Oma and Mashu! Mr. Fenton, get the Fenton Pebble Shooter and the Fenton Knock-out Gas! This bender has made a wrong turn today!" Mr. Lancer commanded, while Danny scrambled for his stuff and the weapons Mr. Lancer had specified. Maybe he could use this opportunity to escape!

"Mr. Fenton, leave your backpack here. You are not quite done, and I am not a fool." Danny groaned and followed Mr. Lancer.

 _As of now, Danny could perform only the two things he had done before, the two things the blue-clad girl had taught him. Hopefully, it would be enough._

"Oh, Johnny…" Kitty swooned, with hearts in her eyes. "You're such a show-off, you!" Johnny grinned, as he used his earth-bending to make some more ramps, before performing the double looping on an earthen construction he made five minutes ago.

"And that is not all, Kitty," he said, as he came to a halt next to her, "Come, hop on kitten, this will be my treat, just for you."

He drove through the street, looking around, until he found what he was looking for. He hopped off his motorcycle, and went to the shop he chose to visit.

"YOU!" He shouted at the shop owner, "Give me your BEST necklace! NOW!"

"I will never give you anything, you bender scum!" the shop owner's moustache bustled as he spat on the combat boots around Johnny's feet. Slowly, the man reached under the counter.

"I insist that you give it to me!" Johnny said, menacingly, "Or I will have to put my foot down."

"My daughter is sick because of you scum. Over my dead body!" The man bellowed, as he took his very own Fenton Rock Shooter out of hiding and fired a shot… Which became stuck in the narrow earthen wall Johnny had put up.

"I told you I would put my foot down." Johnny gloated, as he stomped his foot on the ground and an unrefined earthen block shot up directly under the shop owner, who collided with the ceiling and was out for the count.

Johnny took the necklace he wanted and swaggered outside again, where his loving gaze went to Kitty, missing the two-person audience completely.

"Oh, Johnny! How romantic!" Kitty kissed Johnny full on the lips as he tenderly put the necklace around Kitty's neck.

"Everything for you, Ki… Ah!" Johnny suddenly cried out, as a stone crashed against the back of his head, and he slumped forwards, still in Kitty's arms.

"JOHNNY!" Kitty cried out, her frantic eyes searching for the culprit of this horrible act. They rested on Mr. Lancer and Danny, Mr. Lancer especially as he was holding the Fenton Pebble Shooter.

"You… You will pay! I will burn your face off, you bastards!" Her hands were enveloped in fire, and she started to advance on the both of them.

Mr. Lancer looked at Danny, who looked a bit shaken. Mr. Lancer's frown eased a little and he turned around again, deciding to be lenient. "Mr. Fenton, run. I will hold the bender scum off. Get your backpack from the school and go home. I will see you tomorrow for the continuation of your assignment."

Danny hesitated. He had the power to do something, but this definitely wasn't the smartest time to use that power; not with Mr. Lancer there. So he ran.

From a small distance, the blue girl shook her head.

 _The footfalls reached home. What was he to do? The bender didn't seem any different as to who he was before the discovery. But he was a bender, maybe all his life. Was his personality a mask, an impeccable lie? His inner equalist screamed that it was, that benders were not to be trusted. The rest of him was not as sure, however. Was telling the right course of action? It would only take one word, but was he prepared to face the consequences?_

"Danny? Mr. Lancer just called! He had a nasty burn on the right side of his head, but otherwise he was fine, he said. The two… _benders_ have been detained. Isn't that wonderful, Danny?"

"I guess so, mom…" Danny said with a frown. He had other things on his mind right now, as to what would happen with the detained woman, Kitty. The thought that he could one day be detained as well because of his inborn talents was sobering, and it caused him to be unable to concentrate on much else.

Danny turned the page of his book back and forth once again. The information wouldn't stick, no matter how hard he tried. He sighed and stood up, to go to the basement to see what his father was doing, hopefully distracting him enough of the present matter and letting him know what his father had been working on for the past weeks. Now he bended, he needed to be prepared.

He reached out to open the door, only to be knocked back when the door suddenly slammed open, to reveal his father, Jack Fenton, holding some items obscured by a cloth and beaming as if it was his birthday.

"Fentons! I have here, the newest inventions of Fentonworks! Come and see this!" Danny's father exclaimed, bursting towards the kitchen table.

With a macabre interest and dread creeping up his spine, Danny made his way to the kitchen, where his father was already waiting for him and the others. What if he knew?

After a minute of nervousness, Jazz came down too, and sat at the table excitedly. She was to begin an apprenticeship in Fentonworks this fall, and looked forward to it. Danny didn't know what to make of that: before she'd asked she had always been a bit of a skeptic towards equalism. Now she seemed to bounce of excitement every time a new anti-equalist invention was brought up.

As Danny turned towards the invention, Jack's fingers found the miniature cloth the invention had been hastily covered with, and pulled the cloth off.

"BEHOLD! The Fenton Bending Finder!" Jack announced in glee, the object on the table revealed to be a smallish mobile-like device. Maddie smiled, her eyes glittering in approval. Danny Pales

"That's… That's nice, dad." Danny said, not at all agreeing with his words. He would be found out. He would be found out and shunned by his parents. He would be found out.

"How does it work?" Jazz asked, a flame in her eyes. He didn't know whether Jazz had fully converted to the equalist side, but he figured she must have had a big enough change of heart against benders to shun him too. His mind drained of all thoughts bar one: He would be found out.

He would be found out.

Next to him, the blue-clad girl looked at the device curiously, almost mischievously. Didn't she understand? He was a bender. He would be found out, in Raava's name! She was a bender too, she should understand, shouldn't she? HE WOULD BE FOUND OUT!

"Every bender emits a very small amount of spirit particles, because of the nature of bending." Jack gloated at Danny, his eyes becoming a malignant red. Danny's breathing quickened, as the multiple scenarios of what could happen warred in his head.

"This machine detects those spirit particles, and tells us what kind of bender is in the close proximity." Jack laughed evilly, before looking at Danny. The message was clear: A bender could never be his son. Danny frantically looked at Maddie, but an evil smirk had appeared on her face, as she looked at the device with an unholy glee. Then, she turned to him, her face contorting in fake concern

"Danny, is everything alright?" Maddie said, and in her red eyes Danny could see she was repulsed at the mere thought of having to comfort a bender. He would be found out!

"Let's turn it on." Jack's low voice boomed, as Danny felt cold sweat seeping down his back. They must have known all along! They must have made this just for him as to expose him to the world! He would be shunned, exiled, hurt! No! He would be found out, no, he was found out al—"

KABOOM!

The machine exploded, and Danny snapped out of his bubble of angst. His mother sprang up and ran to Jack: "JACK! Are you hurt?!"

What?

Beside him, the blue-clad girl laughed in silent mirth. Jazz's right eye twitched.

He was not found out?!

"No, Maddie, I'm fine."

What?! He sat there in a daze, until his father snapped out of it.

"It seems that Danny's still here! Let's show him the other invention."

"I don't know, Jack. He looked feverish earlier." Maddie argued, as she cast her worried and genuinely concerned eyes at her son. If Danny wasn't calmed before, he was now, as he basked in the fact that his parents didn't hate him. He stood up a relieved man, and made motions to go away, but the pleading look in his father's eyes stopped him.

He hesitated, before sitting down again with a fake smile on his face. He looked to his right, but found the blue-clad girl to be missing. Strange.

"You can show it to me, dad." Jack beamed and composed himself. He cleared his throat.

"Behold, my next invention!" Jack took another coated machine from behind his back, and, while Danny braced himself, pulled the cloth away from this one too.

"THE FENTON TOASTER!" Danny wanted to groan, but didn't, out of more relief, lingering panic and the fact that his grin was still plastered to his face. Instead, he just nodded mutely.

"You put bread in, and it comes out with little faces of me on it!" Jack beamed, while taking some bread and stuffing it in the toaster. A white light beamed out of it, and three seconds later, the light died and the bread came up again, formed as Danny's father's face.

"Jack! That's marvelous!" Maddie said lovingly. Sometimes, scientists needed to be distracted too, and she knew that, with Jack, this certainly was the case.

"Toast, Danny?" Jack offered, but Danny backed away towards the door.

"No, no thanks. I'm going to do… homework. See you at dinner." Danny left the room, away from his exploded doom and the infernal toast…

In the room, Maddie patted Jack on the back. "We knew he didn't like toast, so don't take it too hard."

Jack pouted, and took a sad bite of his toast.

 _The Amity Park Prison, one of the town's most prided landmarks, was famed amongst Amity residents for having housed non-wanted benders since the town's founding._

As the guard left, Danny regarded the woman in front of him. He had to see. He had to know what would happen to him were his father ever to make the Fenton Bending Finder a working reality.

 _To this day, it remained operational, and an often visited spot for school excursions._

"Horrible, isn't it?"

Danny looked to the side to see a kid three years his junior standing next to him. He, as well, was watching the woman in the cell, although nothing useful could be gained from the silence she furiously maintained. She looked a lot more vulnerable than the day before, where she wanted to kill him and gave Mr. Lancer a burn.

"…Yeah." Danny eventually brought out. This could be him. It could just as easily have been him.

"To have a bender _here_ , in Amity." The boy absentmindedly took some candy out of his bag and started unwrapping it.

"They're just humans." Danny countered. The kid gave him a concernedly serious look.

"They just want you to think that. My dad told me benders are monsters in disguise, out to get us. You wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the real deal, if not for their bending."

Danny shivered. He had been taught the same when he was younger. At least he wasn't out to get the Amity residents…

The kid walked on, and Danny started watching again. Eventually, even Kitty couldn't take it anymore and hurled an insult to his face.

"What're you staring at, creep? Isn't it enough that you hurt my dear Johnny and me?" She strained her shackles that kept her hands and feet in position (against bending), and flipped him the finger. Her finger was shaking.

As if coming out of a trance, Danny suddenly realized he had been here way longer than he liked, and turned to walk away, only to see Tucker standing before him.

"Hey Danny." Tucker greeted. It held little of his usual energy, but that wasn't strange, for the Prison had that effect on people who grew out of the 'benders are monsters in disguise' phase.

"Hey Tucker." Danny greeted back. "I was just leaving."

"Oh," Tucker said, "Me too." Danny smiled.

"Nasty Burger, then?"

"Sure," Tucker said, his energy increasing slightly due to the prospect of meat.

As they made their way to the exit, Tucker turned his head to Danny again.

"The male is sentenced to be executed the day after tomorrow, did you know?"

Danny was enveloped by dread, and shook his head. "No. Since when did we do the death sentence here in Amity?"

"Since its founding. Only for benders though, and even then they have to have committed some sort of crime first, to make it legally justifiable. Otherwise they are banished." Tucker said with a nonchalance that didn't at all fit with telling that benders could be executed for shortchanging someone.

"I see." Danny said uneasily.

It was silent for a while. Normally, Tucker would have made a disparaging comment about benders by now, and Danny would have laughed along with him as if this didn't concern him, but for some reason, none came.

 _But many forgot the prison was old too, and was not originally build for benders._

"Thank Korra I've found you two." Sam breathed slightly heavier than was normal, but she seemed relieved, which made Danny glance at Tucker questionably. Tucker, in a show of his former self, was caught between sputtering in disgust by the mention of the former Avatar and smirking mischievously.

"What did they try to force you in this time?" Tucker asked, smiling, but not as wide as normally. Sam scowled at him, but relented after a few seconds.

"Traditional Earth Kingdom wear… in hot pink! I mean, why hot pink?!" Sam fumed, as the group resumed its way to the Nasty Burger.

"Sam, maybe you should try telling them again." Danny tried, but Sam shot him an exasperated look.

"You think that will work? Why don't you do it then?" Danny mulled this over for a bit. Then, he rejected the idea.

"Sam, your parents hate me. If it's me, I wouldn't be surprised if they reacted by making you wear even more hot pink." He never quite got why they hated him, but he didn't push it either. Sam liked him well enough, and that was what was important. It was not like they were dating or something. He blushed.

The group reached the Nasty Burger, which was filled with people, as it was every Saturday afternoon. They took a seat at a booth, and Tucker went off to order the usual. Sam turned to him.

"Are we going to talk with him?" Sam asked pointedly. Danny nodded, the only times Tucker didn't have his energy was when something was wrong, and this had gone on too long to continue.

As Tucker returned and sat down, Sam stared at him intently, as to make it known she was serious. To his credit, Tucker didn't hide that there was something wrong. Underneath the jokes and the energy, he hid a scary intellect, and right then, it showed. Danny composed himself, and started the conversation.

"Tucker, is there something wrong you want to tell us about?"

Tucker frowned as he met Danny's stare. "Not particularly, no. Do you want to share something with the class, Danny?" A small stalemate ensued, where Danny gave Tucker a puzzled and slightly forced look, while Tucker stared down at Danny. He knew!

But if he knew, Danny thought, why hadn't he done anything? How long had he known, who had he told? Had Tucker delivered him to his doom? Was the police waiting outside the Nasty Burger, just to arrest him? He hadn't broken any laws, did he?

Sam pricked him with her finger. "Danny, seriously? We don't need you to go all quiet now! This conversation is about Tucker, remember?!"

Danny saw a spark of guilt flash in Tucker's eyes, and he hoped it wasn't because Tucker had told his parents and they were on their way to kick him out of the village. But he got himself together. This was no time for angst, and he couldn't break down in the Nasty Burger.

"I'll tell you what." Tucker compromised. "Let's take this to Lake Eerie. Nobody ever comes there anyway." Danny nodded, while Sam looked between the two.

"Sam," Tucker started, but Danny interrupted him. "No, she can come." Sam sputtered.

"What did I miss? Is this about Fentonworks?" Sam burst out. Tucker chuckled, a bit of his good humour coming back.

"No, Danny didn't keep inventions from me this time. Just come along."

 _Danny had often wondered about what Avatar Korra looked like. His teachers had said that she was 'not bad looking', which would probably mean that she was drop dead gorgeous. But of course, in an equalist village, procuring pictures of the late Avatar was not a first concern. As the only Water tribe descendant he knew at the time, the best template Danny had for the Avatar was a female version of Tucker Foley, which, he reasoned, was not something he wanted to fantasize over. So he didn't, and the topic was forgotten when the blue-clad girl came along._

"So Tucker," Danny started. They were sitting beneath a gnarled tree next to the lake, with a view of the woods on one side and a view of the town on another.

Sam opened her mouth, but was shushed by Tucker. This action shocked her so that she actually closed her mouth again, before throwing up her hands and grumbling something about stupid boys.

"I need to know. Who did you tell?" Danny said stone-faced. He had had the whole trip to prepare his wits, and he had succeeded. Now the only thing left was acceptance and reason.

Tucker grimaced, before answering. "Nobody. I don't know how long you've hidden this from us, Danny. I know that you've been training for a few weeks now, at least. Do you even care about us at all, Danny? Were all those years of friendship a well performed lie?" With every sentence, Tucker's hurt got more pronounced, as his eyes were furiously pinned on Danny.

Danny sputtered, and then countered. "Why would you think it was a lie? No, sorry. Stupid question. Tucker, I've learned that a lot of things we learned in school are not true, I mean, since I found out a few weeks back. Of some things, I don't know the truth yet, others are true. But Tucker, you're my friend. And I care. I'm still human, Tuck. You're my best friend." Danny sagged a bit. "Thanks for not telling."

Sam slowly opened her mouth. "Danny, is this what I think it is?"

"Sam," Danny took a breath. "I'm a bender. An earthbender."

Sam's lips formed a perfect 'o', and Danny found himself absently looking at it in fascination.

"You…" Danny inched away from her.

"You lucky bastard!" Sam gritted her teeth. "I would have loved to be able to bend!"

Danny was caught off guard. "Well, it's not like I dislike being a bender, Sam! It's just, I'm not sure who I can trust with it. I'm not a very good bender anyways."

Tucker chuckled. "What?" Danny responded. "It's true! Even though the forms are not that hard, I have trouble with earthbending and I don't know why."

Tucker became more serious. "Then why did you continue? Bending is good for nothing, why put yourself in danger?"

"Well," Danny wanted to say 'because of the blue-clad girl', but never came that far, as an explosion interrupted anything he would want to say. Screams could be heard, and smoke had started rising off the town.

 _Old, and not made for benders, the prison bars were no match for an irate firebender. The moment she knew that her friend had woken up in his cell, she made sure that his cell door was open._

When they arrived, Danny saw the blue-clad girl waiting for him with an appraising look, as if she had placed a bet on him arriving. She motioned to the right, and Danny turned accordingly.

It was chaos. Fire burned everywhere, and Danny saw no man in sight. Where were his parents? Was Jazz safe? His attention was drawn towards two figures in the middle of the road.

"Guys, I…" Tucker looked as if he had swallowed something nasty, but Sam nodded in understanding and steered him away to find their parents. The blue-clad girl gave him a questioning glance, but shrugged, and turned around again.

In the middle of the inferno, two figures were seen making out passionately

"Kitty… I could never live up to your fiery passion…" Johnny said, moaning, and Danny's face scrunched up in disgust. He snuck a glance at the blue-clad girl, and saw that her face was also a bit scrunched up, but more in a righteous fury kind of way.

"Johnny, oh Johnny…" Kitty moaned back and sniffed, while Danny squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered. He didn't need to see that. The blue-clad girl winced.

"Nothing will ever separate us, Kitty… Although they can try…" The blue-clad girl was now pointing vigorously at the pair, and Danny agreed. This had gone of long enough.

"Get a room, you two!" He shouted.

Kitty turned around. "You! YOU! The kid! Johnny, let's burn him up! He was there, in the prison! He was laughing while the old man fought me!" Danny cocked his eyebrows. Laughing? More like running. But before he got over his sputtering, Johnny had turned towards him in rage.

"Kitty my love, we'll squash the little equalist for that!" Johnny shouted angrily, as he stamped his foot on the ground, and two square slabs of stone shot out of the ground.

Danny stamped his own foot down too, and two rocks with the combined size of one of Johnny's slab shot up. As Johnny's eyes widened, he launched them at Johnny, who used one slab for defense and shot the other slab at Danny.

Danny jumped out of the way, but was almost hit by a fire blast from Kitty. He shouted of surprised, as he lost his balance and fell on his hands.

On hands and feet, the frontside of his body exposed to the sky, he saw Johnny calling up more boulders, and he tried desperately to push himself up by trying to shoot up earth pillars under his hands. This succeeded, albeit at the wrong side. As his feet were launched skyward, Danny grunted as he used the momentum of his legs to flip his body backside up again, forcing up a boulder with the power of his feet when they hit the ground.

This was just in time to stop Johnny's boulder. Sadly, Johnny had sent another boulder behind it, which nicked Danny's right cheek, earning a small cry of pain from Danny.

Meanwhile, Kitty had advanced past Danny to surround him, and shot off a fire ball, which exploded on contact with the ground. Danny was thrown against a building by the force of the explosion, which made Kitty smile in glee.

"Not so cheeky now, eh, kid?!" Kitty shouted, with an unhinged smile. "Let's see how you fare under my passion!"

Johnny halted in his advance. "Kitty, we don't need to burn the kid to _death_! He's just a kid! I think he's learned his lesson!"

"He's one of _their_ kind, Johnny! They were going to murder me! They made sure I knew that, that they were going to kill me and sell tickets for it!" Kitty breathed out, a tear trailing over her cheek into her smiling mouth, which looked forced even to a fourteen year old kid just thrown against the wall. Danny absently noted the tear tracks formed by the girl's make-up.

"But he's a bender, Kitty! We should take him with us instead, save him from these horrible people!"

"Why would you keep me from this, Johnny? Don't you love me?" Kitty advanced on Danny, as Johnny sputtered.

"I do, but…"

"But what?!" Kitty turned around, flames evaporating in her hands. The fires were going out.

Danny shakily recovered from his earlier unfortunate position. This was his chance, if he wanted to take them out. He would never win if he didn't do it now. He slowly changed his stance to an earthbending stance, but caught the eyes of the blue-clad girl. She had a vague look of disapproval on her face as she looked at him, and Danny's brick-addled mind tried its very best to find out why.

A bit too long. Johnny had turned around again and saw what Danny was up to. Danny stood his ground, but both of them knew that Danny would not be able to knock them out as he swayed on his feet. Johnny also knew that Danny didn't have to. If only Danny held out until his fellow town members had reached their spot, which wouldn't be long, Johnny would be killed, probably on the spot. More importantly, so would Kitty.

Danny took a while longer to figure that out due to the blow to his head, but ultimately, he did. Could he condemn the two of them to death? Could he do that, knowing him would await the same fate, possibly at the same time? He already knew the answer, as his arms went slack, and he slumped back against the wall.

Kitty turned around too, and tugged on Johnny's jacket. "Come on, Johnny, let's finish him off and run!" Johnny stretched out his hand, and his motorbike appeared through the flames.

"Hop on, Kitty-cat!" Kitty did so puzzledly, as Johnny revved up his bike and rolled it to Danny.

Danny's vision blackened around the edges as Kitty smiled deviously at him, albeit still a bit forced. A fireball lit up in her hands, but Johnny put a hand against her arm.

"No."

"Just a scar. He deserves at least that!" Kitty fumed indignantly, but Johnny wouldn't budge, as he looked at her in sadness.

"No, Kitty." Kitty extinguished the fireball, looking utterly broken, as she watched Johnny in sheer betrayal.

"Kid, come with us. You're not safe here, they _will_ kill you when they find out." Johnny stretched out his hand. Danny slowly shook his head.

Shouts were heard a small distance of. Johnny turned his head frantically, but as he saw nobody yet, he tried again.

"You don't understand, kid. These people are extremists!" Danny, thinking of his family, shook his head again, slowly.

"Thanks but… no thanks…" He was able to get out. "Just… Go." His vision was now almost completely black, and he closed his eyes as he fought to stay conscious.

As he heard the motorbike roaring away and the shouts getting closer, Danny lost.

 _As the rescue party reached the source of the shouts, the hooligans where nowhere to be found. Instead, they found the young bender lying on the ground against a wall, bruised and beaten. As he was brought to the hospital, he mulled over the situation. The bender was clearly loyal to the town, to stay there even though leaving was what a normal bender would do. The bender had obviously tried to confront the hooligans and failed to beat them._

 _Footfalls stopped. Should he turn him in? He was obviously not a danger yet, losing battles like that. Now or never…_

 _But that didn't mean there wouldn't come a time where he wouldn't lose, if he applied himself… It was always good to be prepared, and to be honest, most of the town didn't stand a chance against benders._

 _The footfalls continued. Yes, that didn't sound too bad. A little extra safeguard for the town._

 _So, for now, the bender had just 'gotten to the wrong place at the wrong time'. Only benders were as idiotic as to seek out battles, after all…_


End file.
